To England, I Say!

Yesterday was an adventure! We began the morning by climbing the Scott Monument. That's right, 287 stairs straight up a winding, narrow--No, I mean NARROW--staircase. It was kind of scary because it was raining and pretty windy. But, the views were nice, and now I can say that I've done it. In fact, I'm number 54,714. :) Here is a picture of my certificate of authentication, the winding stairs, the monument from below, and myself on the stairs as seen from the landing.

Next, we boarded the train at Waverly Station here in Edinburgh and took the 50 minute ride to Berwick-Upon-Tweed where we then proceeded to catch a bus to the small town of Bamburgh, England. On a small side note, our bus driver was very friendly and quite funny. We talked to him a bit, as we were the only ones on the bus. We rode up top, even though there is no ventilation because we wanted to have the best view. My favorite part of the ride? Going through a town called Pot-a-Doodle-Do. :) Here is one of the coolest things we saw on the way.

Here we were able to tour Bamburgh Castle and walk along the beach of the North Sea. Yes, I went in up to my knees. It was freezing. It was beautiful, refreshing, and relaxing. We ate at a local place called The Castle. I had a BLT (adventurous, I know) and salad. We pretty much spent the whole day getting there, being there, and getting back. We spent about four hours in Bamburgh. While there, we walked through this cemetery where the prominent family name (and apparently local heroes who were old shipping captains) is Younghusband. Interesting!

Now I can say that I've been to England. The English countryside was absolutely beautiful and was exactly how I pictured it.

Our train coming back was 20 minutes late! Not a big deal, but it got quite cold waiting on the train platform in Berwick. I don't think I particularly like trains because they kind of give me a bit of motion sickness. Throw in a bus, and I was about done for. :)

When we got back to Edinburgh, it was raining. Surprise, Surprise! On our walk back to our hotel, we stopped and got take away from a place by our hotel. The guy that helped us was from Brazil and it took a bit for us all to understand each other. I ended up with a chicken carbonara at his suggestion. It was pretty good.

When we got back to the hotel, and after I'd eaten my dinner, I was basically comatose! I pretty much went straight to bed and slept until seven this morning. The sun has a funny way of waking me up.

Today, we are headed to Sterling where we will stay one night, and then tomorrow we will be off to Inverness for a few days. The forecast for the next seven days: rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, and rain with a bit of sunny.